"It's part of the process," spokesman Steve Faulkner said, referring to the lack of interest in service plaza development. "This can be typical when you have a completely new program for the state of Ohio."

Faced with a tight budget and unrelenting demand for road projects, ODOT is looking for ways to generate cash from existing assets.

That includes rest areas. At the very least, ODOT would like to offset the $50 million yearly cost of maintaining 104 rest stops.

But ODOT says it can post advertising and seek paying sponsors at those rest stops.

There are 59 other rest areas that don't sit along federal highways. They serve state and U.S. routes in rural and semi-rural areas, and ODOT wants to turn some of them into Ohio Turnpike-style service plazas.

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ODOT recently requested development proposals for five of the sites -- two on U.S. 50 in Athens County, two on U.S. 33 in Hocking County and one on U.S. 23 in Pickaway County.

The fact that no one responded by last week's deadline didn't surprise Joseph Balog, a commercial real estate developer and member of the Ohio Turnpike Commission.

The turnpike is able to attract vendors to its service plazas because drivers are a captive, dependable source of revenue on the toll road, Balog said.

"The state of Ohio rest areas don't have that captive audience," Balog said. "People could just as easily get off at the next freeway exit, where there's probably a Burger King or McDonald's."

"In this situation, the private industry has looked at it and said, 'We don't see how it really benefits us,' " Balog said.

ODOT will go back to developers and ask how to make the rest area proposal more attractive, Faulkner said.

There may have been features that turned developers off, he said. The Pickaway County site had well water, a challenge for development, he noted.

"Maybe it was an issue with acreage," Faulkner said. "Maybe there wasn't enough."

A number of developers showed interest before the state released the proposal. But several groups, representing restaurants, gas stations and other merchants that would have to compete with new service plazas, opposed the plan.

Ohio is among a handful of states pursuing sponsorships on interstates.

Interest in the idea is growing. The Federal Highway Administration issued guidelines this spring for states considering sponsorship of rest areas, unique stretches of highway, interchanges and bridges.

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